In the movie Chak De Shahrukh Khan tells his team to drop manners and play as rough as the opponent team: woh ek maare, tum do maaro, woh do maare, tum chaar maaro*.(they hit you once, you hit twice, they hit you twice, you hit four times.).
Dhoni gives free rein to his boys to handle sledging the way they wish to. Australians sledge and Indians sledge back.
This is not an article about the rise of aggression in Indian sports heralding birth of a new era, this is about how sports have changed where physical fitness is the key to performance.talent alone is not enough you have to learn to tackle injuries game induced or opponent induced and also the fame and money.
Sachin today plays far far more cricket than the Don, faces more injuries than the Don ever imagned. He doesnt have to endure sledging by the Australian team because of his stature. He has to handle the aspirations of the milions. Todays player can never be a cricketer alone: he automatically becomes a celebrity, a model, a brand ambassador- whether he wants it or not. He performs well and money comes flowing in- look at Ishant Sharma! I am not saying whether Sachin is greater than Bradman, his average wont equal the Don’s ever(you can dig the stats at various sites) but the challenegs he is facing are much much more.
Similar is the case of Pele and Maradona, it is stupid to compare them by the number of goals, no of goal/appearance etc because the two belong to different times. Did Pele play with the press scrutinizing his every move? with the opponents out to injure you out for good? with so much money for easy taking? when the game ceases to be an art blossoming in a natural talent.
We can only speculate if Pele would have responded with a headbutt a la Zidane in a Soccer World Cup final.
The sports have changed from a talent based arena to where the talent alone is not enough- look at Brian Lara, people might argue as to who is better him or Sachin. But one thing is indisputable - he can never match Sachin’s stature. While Sachin has mainatained an unblemished reputation as a sensible, grounded person. And this makes him far more remarakable than other sportspersons- to live with this amount of fame and money and not allow it to got to his head.
PS- please feel free to pitch in with your examples- for or against;)